Monitoring the death penalty

Cincinnati's police monitor is generating national and international headlines again -- but not for anything the Cincinnati police did.

Saul A. Green has succeeded in urging Missouri authorities to reopen the case of a 1980 drive-by shooting in St. Louis in which Larry Griffin was sentenced to death. It was an extraordinary request, given that the state executed Griffin in 1995. But both the circuit attorney and the state's attorney general have agreed to look into the case after an investigation by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Green represents the family of victim Quinton Moss, and appeared on CNN Sunday Night with Fredricka Whitfield:

Unfortunately, in these kind of cases, it sometimes takes a while for the evidence to be thoroughly reviewed, and to be produced. It is, of course, unfortunate that it didn't happen before hand. But over the last several years, this issue came to the attention of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. An investigation has been conducted over the last couple of years. And now, we do have what we believe is important information and evidence that raises a question with regard to the conviction and the execution.

Green, a former U.S. Attorney in Detroit, was appointed by U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott to oversee the Cincinnati Police Department's compliance with court orders on racial profiling and use of force.

(Photo by Gary Landers/The Cincinnati Enquirer)